Four Fat Chicks -- New Robinson Review

New Robinson

Review by Jen

Nikita is a Russian game developer that has been in business since 1992 and has some 26 titles to its credit. Of course, very few have made it to the English-speaking world, but New Robinson is one of them.

New Robinson is loosely based on the story Robinson Crusoe (as you probably guessed from the title, you super-genius), where the main character, Robinson, becomes shipwrecked. He must accomplish several tasks in order to be able to survive on the island, and then he meets Friday and tries to make his way home. It is a point-and-click, cartoon-style adventure game. Most of the puzzles are inventory-based, and there are several discrete puzzles that pop up in their own screens that you must solve in order to progress.

The speech is in Russian with English subtitles. Some of the translations are kind of odd; for instance, Robinson picks up some twigs from time to time, and they are called "logs." (Me, I would've used the word "lumber.") The game is supposed to be comedic, but I think much of the humor was lost in the translation.

It's a very linear game; you must complete the tasks in a certain order. You can pick up available items at any time, and if you use them wrongly, you can go back and get new ones from the same place. There are not very many game screens, and once you have seen all of the locations on the island, you get a map feature that allows you to jump to any screen you choose.

As I mentioned, most of the puzzles are inventory-based, a matter of using the correct item at the correct time in the correct location. These generally make sense; there is nothing totally off-the-wall like in the Monkey Island games. About four or five times during the course of the game, you have to solve a standalone puzzle; a couple of them are plain old jigsaw puzzles, and there is a checkers game and a horrendous-to-solve music puzzle (that almost stopped me dead).

The graphics are nice, in a primitive kind of way. The screens scroll from side to side for the most part, and Robinson walks on set paths according to where you click—this is 2D animation at its finest! Actually, the screens are nicely drawn, with attention paid to detail, but the last few games I've played (Stupid Invaders, the Draculas, The Messenger, Monkey Island 4 ...) have redefined "eye candy," and these graphics don't quite measure up to the high standards being set by the more mainstream developers these days. On the plus side, you don't need no steenkin' accelerator card to play, and the rest of the system requirements are pretty low.

The music isn't bad ... unless you get stuck in one place for more than a couple of minutes. Then it becomes really annoying. There is also one sequence involving cannibals banging on drums that drove me to distraction; I had to turn down the sound until I completed that part of the game. I think the game would have worked just as well with no music at all. While it didn't detract from the game much, it also didn't add anything.

The game is very short; it took me only about six hours to complete it. It can be purchased online through the Nikita site for $29 including shipping. I think if you're looking for something a little different and you're tired of taxing your brain on those difficult games that have been coming out lately, New Robinson might be a good investment. Not to mention, it's really very appropriate for all ages, so if you're looking for something fun that you can play with your kids, this would be a good choice.